PROUDLY ADVOCATING FOR TENNESSEE INJURY VICTIMS SINCE 2001

Overton County

Knowledgeable Personal Injury Attorney Serving Overton County

Overton County is located in Tennessee. Its county seat was moved from Monroe to Livingston in 1835. In the 2000 Census, there were 20,118 residents there. The county was named for a State Supreme Court judge. Nearby Pickett County, with a county seat of Byrdstown, is the least populated county in Tennessee. In smaller communities, it can be especially difficult to deal with the aftermath of an accident. Whether you are hurt because of a car wreck, truck wreck, motorcycle wreck, medical malpractice, wrongful death, or another type of personal injury, you may need to bring a lawsuit to recover the damages to which you are entitled. Experienced Overton County personal injury lawyer Matt Hardin has the skill and dedication to aggressively seek the compensation that you deserve.

Pursuing a Negligence Claim in Tennessee

Regardless of the context of your injury, most cases involving negligent conduct turn on the proof of four elements. These elements are duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. Who owes a duty? This is usually a question of law, and sometimes it is a straightforward issue. For example, a driver owes a duty of reasonable care to other people using the road not to run red lights or stop signs.

In other situations, the duty of “reasonable care” is a more murky issue. Reasonable care is defined by looking at the risk entailed by taking an action. If the action is associated with a relatively high risk of injury, people are expected to be more careful. This is because an injury was foreseeable. A Tennessee victim in a negligence lawsuit will have a better chance of succeeding if the injury was a reasonably foreseeable possibility, and an Overton County personal attorney can help you determine if this was the case.

There are cases when the risk is simply not foreseeable. For example, suppose you have to brake and stop unexpectedly in a line of cars near a bridge. The cars are stopping because there is a pedestrian trying to climb off the bridge. The driver of the car at the front of the line asks the pedestrian if he is all right. The car behind you brakes in time to stop a foot away from your car, but the car behind him does not. As a result, the car behind you is rear-ended and rolls into your car, giving you whiplash.

In this scenario, the pedestrian did not necessarily have a duty to you to avoid climbing off the bridge. The pedestrian’s duty would require more analysis by a court on whether it was foreseeable that the cars would rubberneck and whether it was foreseeable that some cars would not be able to brake and stop in time. However, it is likely that the driver of the car at the back of the line will be found by a court to have a duty to drivers in other cars, like yours, to drive safely and slowly enough to brake in traffic.

After determining there was a duty, the court will have to consider whether the defendant breached the duty, whether the breach caused the accident and your injuries, and whether you suffered damages from your injuries. If you can establish these elements, you may be able to recover compensation from the defendant. Types of damages can include lost wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, and property damage, among others. If you were injured by a truck driver or another employee of a business, you may be able to hold the business liable for its employee’s carelessness if the employee was acting within the scope and course of employment. This can be a useful way to get compensation when the individual employee lacks insurance or does not have any other means to reimburse you.

Discuss Your Personal Injury Case With an Overton County Lawyer

If you are hurt because of someone else’s negligent behavior, you may be facing considerable medical bills and lost time from work. These can add up to a devastating amount of debt. You may need to bring a lawsuit to recover damages. It is possible to recover those losses by retaining a knowledgeable Livingston personal injury attorney. Matt Hardin can investigate the circumstances of your accident and file the appropriate type of lawsuit while you rest and recover. Schedule a free consultation with him by calling 615-200-1111 or sending a message through our online form. For your convenience, we also have a satellite office in Cookeville, available for appointments. We serve clients throughout Overton County and Pickett County, including Byrdstown.